Of demons and cats
by Dakyu
Summary: Kurt is tired of people calling him freak, monster, and the like, so he runs off into the woods. But will someone follow? PG for language in some parts Kurtty I suck at summaries, just please read it!
1. Cast away

Here's my first attempt at an Evol. Fic, and hopefully it's not that bad . . . (angry crowd appears). (Runs away)

I don't know how everyone is going to like this one, so review, and I might continue.

To tell you the truth, I don't really know where I got the inspiration for this one. Just a little upset with my life or something, I don't know . . .

Disclaimer: I don't own X-men, otherwise I wouldn't be wasting my time writing this fic, instead I'd be swimming in my own private pool or something, lol.

Enjoy!

Ch. 1

Rain. Mud. Sorrow.

Wow, how exciting a life of a mutant could be.

The mansion was behind Kurt, a giant wall. Rain was pouring down on him, soaking his already tear stricken face and demon-like fur. He hadn't bothered to grab any extra sets of clothes, his hollo watch, or even some identification.

After all, why would a _freak_ need it?

He was tired of this. Tired of his unfair life, tired of people not understanding, tired of . . . life.

Kurt's two-toed foot squelched in the mud. He could live in the wild. After all, he looked like an animal, was treated like an animal . . . Why couldn't he live like one?

Thunder cackled across the sky, lighting up the side of the mansion in such a way, that it looked menacing. Shadows were lengthened, all of them coming into sharp points at one spot or another.

It was monstrous. But no less than he was.

He held up a hand so he could see it: mutated, three fingered, and just overall grotesque.

Freak.

Looking back at the mansion, he realized something: they were better off without him. Who needed a furry demon freak, anyway?

Kitty.

No. She doesn't need me. She wants a normal life. One away from mutants, and their world.

His fist clenched. He was the very aspect of mutant.

Rain kept flowing with his tears. Was he never to be happy? No. He would have to leave. They were better off without him.

Turning, his eyes glowed in the night. Crawler of the night, and lone wolf in one.

He had been reborn.

Kitty was shaken awake as the air in her bedroom hummed with the crashes of thunder.

She opened her eyes groggily as she reluctantly awoke. There wouldn't be any sleep tonight. _Too bad Storm couldn't control something like this_, she thought.

A gust of wind forced her window open, ice-cold rain coming in a wall through it. Shivering, Kitty was fully awake, and walked towards the windowsill.

She struggled to try to close it, but when she looked down, two yellow eyes stared back at her.

Two familiar yellow eyes.

"Kurt!" It would be no use, she knew. The howl of the wind and crashing of thunder wouldn't allow her to be heard. Everyone else was asleep, and they wouldn't be able to wake up in time . . .

She knew what she had to do.

Phasing through the floor, she landed near the double doors of the mansion. Kurt wouldn't leave the mansion now unless he didn't mean to come back. He hated to get his fur wet.

She ran out the front doors, not bothering to open them. The wind would make too much of a ruckus. She ran out into the rain, phasing herself through everything in her path.

Kitty had to get to him.

Kurt ran through the soaked town. No one would be out at a time like this, so why worry about his appearance? On all fours, he could move faster than anyone on the team, except maybe Kitty, who could just go through anything in her way.

But she would have had to have seen him at the right time, and just gone right after him as he left. What were the odds of that? No. Nothing could catch him now.

Racing even faster, pushing himself, his frustrations making him go faster. But why? Why was he running?

He was going where he belonged. And away from the people that he could only hurt.

A few minutes later, he saw what he was looking for: the edge of the woods. Here, he could be free, away from people. He could live, as _he_ wanted: like the animal he had been called so many times.

The woods soon surrounded him. He was home.

_Darn, that kid's fast!_ Kitty thought as she ran as fast as her legs would carry her. This kid was leaving them . . . But why would Kurt leave?

That question still stuck in her head. Kurt had it good, didn't he? Friends, family . . . well, if you counted Mystique as family . . .

But what more did he want?

She continued to follow him through the streets, his silhouette now only seen when a lightning bolt flashed. And he was getting farther away.

Almost growling despite herself, she kept going, pushing herself. For once, she was glad that Logan had decided to push the danger room sessions for once. It had, at least, kept her in shape.

She saw him disappear into the woods. He really didn't want to be found . . . but why?

That darn question again: why?

Kitty kept running. He wasn't going to get rid of her that easily. She smirked despite herself. The woods surrounded her, and into an animal's domain.

Okay, I admit it. I'm a nerd. I'm submitting a fanfiction to a show that hasn't been on TV in my area for a good year and a half, but who cares, eh?

So, how is it? Good/bad/horrible? Next chapter will be longer, sorry about how short this one was, but don't worry about that. There will also be a lot more action in it to, besides running away, or after something, hehehe.

R&R, and I'll continue!


	2. A new life

Okay, here's chappie two! Thanks for the reviews, everyone! I really do appreciate it.

And sorry about the lack of space margins between points of view. I thought that parenthasis would work, but apparently not. From not on, I'll be using with "'s point of view sort of thing.

Once again, thanks!

Ch. 2

Kurt shifted uncomfortably. Despite his overall "monkey" posture, it still wasn't a very nice place to sleep. He sat in a tree, shivering in the continuing downpour. In the branches it was much dryer, but still damp nonetheless. Shaking his head, much like a dog, he was able to get a lot of the drips off of his fur, but it still didn't help much.

This was not as fun as sleeping at the mansion, which was a definite.

To his relief, the sky stopped its relentless pummel of the earth and all its unhappy inhabitants. The ground was still soggy, but the morning light was beginning to clear it up.

Thank goodness. But what now?

Kurt cursed his questioning mind. Why did he always have to bring up the obvious to himself? Was he even making sense?

_Just shut up_, he told himself. He actually expected some part of him to say "no," but thankfully nothing did.

He climbed head first down the wet tree, thankful that his fingers were enlarged and enabled him to stick to things that any normal person would find impossible to climb.

But he wasn't normal.

Easily climbing down the slippery bark, he got to the bottom, his bare feet sinking into the wet mud slightly.

Okay, that was a start. But what next?

_Food_! His stomach complained.

He smirked at the growl from his insides. Food wouldn't come easy here, but the question was: where do you start?

Remembering back to their survival training, he remembered something about the tree sap being like a diluted syrup.

Syrup meant sugar, and that, at least, would be a temporary energy source.

But how to get it?

He looked over the trees that were near him. Maple? Oak? He couldn't tell. How deep did bark go in a tree, anyway? Couldn't be too much.

Kurt saw a long scratch mark that went down one of the trees, maybe done by an elk.

Elk? Maybe a food source later on . . .

_Ew_! He thought. _That's disgusting. But it's not like I have a choice out here, though. Still . . . Yuck_!

He 'ported over to the tree, and laid a hand on it. With an oversized fingernail, (to fit oversized fingers,) he scratched a little at the exposed wood. A few splinters came off, but nothing worth cheering about.

This wasn't going to get him anywhere.

Nearby, he spotted a pine tree, with short, but undoubtedly pointy spines. He climbed up, broke of a branch with a few good bends, and then went back down to the tree.

How was he supposed to do this?

He spun, bringing the branch around and giving the tree a good "whack."

No good. Now he _really_ felt stupid. _Great job, you whacked a tree with a branch. Smart thinking_!

Kurt looked over the branch again. This time, he plucked off one of the spines, and scraped at the wood. Perfect. It broke it half.

He fumed for a moment, but then saw a log sitting on the ground nearby. That had to work better than this. Dropping his old "tools," he swiftly grabbed the log, but it turned out to be far too heavy for him to lift.

Easy way to fix that.

'Porting high above the forest, with the log, he dropped it, the gigantic hunk of wood shattering as it hit the ground. This was better. Kurt landed next to the splinters of wood, and saw an ideal piece to use.

It was curve for the most part, the under lump of a branch when it came off from the original tree. He smiled. The other end was very thin, just a long splinter, but sharp.

Turning back to the original tree, he stuck the branch into the wood.

Bingo.

Slowly, but steadily, the sugary sap slid down the wounded bark, which he was more than happy to lap up. It wasn't quite like maple syrup, not really as strong.

He loved it, nonetheless.

After he had a few mouthfuls, he knew that he would have to get an actual food source. Sugar was all he was getting here. Yes, it gave a temporary food supplement, but he needed something like fish, or meat, and he needed veggies too.

Add "shelter" to the list of stuff that he needed, and he was in a hellhole of trouble. This wasn't going to be easy . . .

He set that thought to the back of his mind. What he needed now, was food. In any form he could get it.

Later on . . ."

Kurt dropped down from the trees, exhausted from his hours of "strolling" through the trees. Pine trees weren't very nice to climb on. Their bark was prickly, the spines poked, and the branches near the top weren't very strong.

On several occasions, he had to just jump from tree trunk to tree trunk. Easier said than done. He had to launch himself with his legs, and then rotate them around so that they were in front of him so that he could cushion his impact on the next tree.

All of this, in midair.

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Every thought that came to him about what to do for a "fort" seemed to backfire. The easiest solution seemed to be to dig a hole, but with the rains that they had been getting, he could end up getting trapped, (although a quick 'port could always fix that,) and if not that he would at least get wet. Plus, his hands weren't really made for it.

Another possibility was to try and build one out of wood. But there arose another problem. What would he tie them together with? He had no rope, and making it was next to impossible. How were they made, anyway?

Also, he had nothing to chop the trees down with, and that wouldn't go unnoticed by anything going about.

Then, it came down to the tree: he had stayed reasonably dry the night before; he'd just have to make a portable roof that he could secure above his head whenever he was traveling.

Yeah, that might work.

With a newfound hope of being able to survive this, he leapt from his place down by the stream and up a nearby tree.

He had work to do.

Back at the mansion

"What do you mean you can't find them?" Logan exploded.

Jean just shook her head. "I . . I can't explain it. We looked in their rooms, Rogue says she doesn't remember Kitty leaving."

"Well, _yeah_," Logan said sarcastically. "She could have just gone right through the wall!"

"It's not like them to miss a meal, either . . ." Jean said more to herself than anyone else.

"At least in elf's case," Logan muttered.

"I just don't understand . . . Maybe if we . ."

"No, Jean, he's not in the lower levels." Xavier's calm, soothing voice came through the room, restoring order in what could have been a shouting fight that Logan had became famous for starting.

"He's gone, and Kitty is as well. He is beyond our help at this moment."

"And that means . . ." Logan motioned with a hand for him to continue.

"He doesn't want us to follow."

Logan scowled, and turned towards his quarters. "Don't you worry. I'll get him back." He promptly walked out of the room, heading towards the closet with his uniform in it.

Jean watched him go, seeing the professor nod as she could only assume he had read the metal boned man's thoughts. "Professor?"

"Yes, Jean?"

"What's Kurt doing, exactly?"

"Trying to find out who he is, and that's all I know. I haven't even picked up Kitty's thoughts, even with Cerebro's help."

"Do you think that she's okay?"

"I truly don't know, Jean. I truly don't know. Neither of them are using their powers very much, I only got a little bit of Kurt about fifty miles north of here."

"In the _woods_?" Jean was confused. Kurt liked the outdoors, but to go _feral_?

"As I said, I only know that Kurt is trying to find out who he is. But right now he's out of range."

"Logan can track him, though, right? Beast has started to learn how to track scents too."

"Yes, they can, provided that the rain didn't sweep most of it away."

"Oh." Jean bit her lower lip. This was serious. No one knew for sure where they actually were, not even the professor.

All they could really do now was hope, and pray. Something that Jean wasn't used too.

Back to Kurt

Kurt grimaced as the dampened dirt beneath his feet squished and molded to his foot as it attempted to get leverage as he walked down the slope.

Funny. He never really remembered where he had learned that flowing water usually goes to a larger water source. Streams into rivers, and rivers into lakes and oceans.

In rivers, though, there were fish.

And in fact, he was quite proud of himself on some level. He had created a "spear" from the extra splinters that were left over from making a temporary portable roof. If it could be called that . . . it was essentially just several branches with a lot of leaves bent so that they wouldn't come apart if you shook it gently. One extra long crook that came off of it served as a shoulder brace, so he could walk with a free hand.

Despite himself, he started humming. He was, at any rate, strolling down a path, on a wet, but bright spring day, and he was about to get some food.

The hum turned into a whistle as he reached the river's edge. And, the water was teeming with life. Taking his spear, he 'ported right above a fish, and before it had any time to react, he had speared it through the skull.

Quick, and almost painless. 'Porting back to the shore before he even fell into the water, he set it on top of his little "roof." That would do for now.

Now, to get some firewood. That wouldn't be quite so easy. He huffed to himself a few times about how slimy the fish was, but he picked it up. A bear or something was bound to come by if he had left it there. So, he picked up his new belongings, and headed towards higher ground, back down his original path.

Looking around the bases of trees, he continued to whistle happily. He really did feel at home. Fresh air, he could do what he pleased, as long as he could figure everything out . . .

He rounded another tree, and his whistling stopped abruptly. Half in a puddle, Kitty was laying, unconscious.

Dun dun dun! Another cliffhanger! Sorry, but I always LOVE suspense . . .

Hehehe, sorry sweatdrop

I'll continue if I get reviews, so R&R people!!


	3. Campfire conversation

Back again!

Here's another chappie, and some more moral/emotional conflicts in this one.

Thanks for reviewing! Enjoy!

Ch. 3

In the well of cold that Kitty had lost consciousness in, a small streak of warmth hit her. She shivered, and tried to move, but found that she couldn't. Something was restraining her.

Struggling again, a weight grabbed her on the shoulder, and pulled her over slightly. She groaned at a pain in her back, and cringed, feeling blindly what was there.

The weight came again, but this time another force picked her up, and set her down lightly. How far away from her original spot, she couldn't tell.

She felt again towards her back, surprised to find that there were bandages wrapped around her middle. With a great deal of willpower, she opened her eyes.

Two feet stood next to her head, behind them a fire. Her vision kept blurring, so she couldn't even tell how far away the objects were.

The feet stepped back a little, and a blurry blue face leaned down next to her.

"Hey, Katzchen." The soft, caring voice of a fuzzy blue elf reached her ears.

"K . . . Kurt?" Kitty tried to get up, but Kurt's hand pushed her back down to the ground.

"En ze fur!" He said happily, but no smile came to his face.

"Where are we? And why do I hurt? . . . Ow . . ." Kitty groaned a little, a hand clenching her bandaged stomach.

"Vell, I found you in a puddle, and you had a gash across your stomach from something. So, I made a camp." Was there . . . smugness in that last comment?

Wait . . . Kurt made a camp? He couldn't even figure out how to use the microwave!

"But . . . How . . ."

Kurt blushed slightly. "I had to carry you. You aren't _that_ heavy, you know. Must be the veggie diet, no?"

"Well, yeah! I mean, come on! Like, everyone who eats animals and things always end up fat and stuff!"

He huffed. "Not everybody."

A quizzical look possessed her face. "What do you mean by that?"

"Me."

Kitty looked down at his body, and noticed that he was no longer wearing a shirt. She quickly turned away, blushing redder than a ripe tomato. This was too much. "Kurt, would you, like, put some clothes on or something?"

He smirked. "I can't."

"Huh?"

"_You're_ wearing my shirt."

She lifted up the bottom of her shirt slightly, and realized that the bandages that were around her middle were actually shreds of shirt.

His shirt.

"You . . . did this for me?"

"Ja. That's a bad cut in you, Keety." He smiled warmly to reassure her. "Not very deep, but I was afraid that I was going to lose you."

She blushed more, if possible. "Yeah, uh, thanks." The weirdest thing was, was that she didn't even really know _why_ she was blushing.

It was only Kurt after all.

_Squeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak! Rumble rumble!_

Kurt laughed. "Looks like someone's hungry!"

Kitty laughed with him, and sat up slowly. The pain in her torso was more annoying than anything else, but there was no point in making the wound worse.

"So, what do we have?"

"Fish, fish, and look!" Kurt turned around to the fire, showing several long scars that criss-crossed on his back. From the fire, and the spit above it, he pulled off two large fish, carp by the look of them.

"More fish." His comical smile faded slightly, seeing Kitty's reaction to it. "Look, this is all I got, so unless you have any ideas about what to eat, then this is what you get."

Kitty took the fish on a stick and grimaced. "I guess this one time won't hurt . . ." She took a bit out of it, and considering it had no spices added to it, it was surprisingly good.

"Hm." She mumbled in a mouthful. "Not bad."

"You get used to it."

Kitty's eyes widened, as Kurt's saddened. Not with shock, but with a combination of other things.

Kurt's point of view

I shook my head, trying to rid my head of all those horrific images . . . of hate. Why did everyone have to go on appearance? I was just sick of it.

I took a bite of fish. The smell and taste brought back even more memories. Living on my own in the woods because my German village hated him . . . Just for my looks.

I shook my head again, chewing on the fish. At that moment it had no taste. All that I thought about was . . .

"Why'd you go?" I looked up at Kitty, the sadness in me was too great to hide, and from the look she gave me back, I knew that I hadn't hid it very well.

I did my best to smile, but it faded quickly. "Because I don't belong there." Turning back to the flames, I couldn't have faced her eye to eye then.

"That's it?"

A little irritated, I turned back to her. "Ja! I mean, how many creatures in the vorld look like me anyvay?"

Kitty's eyes were screaming something, but what? "I thought that you said that looks don't matter . . ."

"Not to us, Keety. But to everyone else in the vorld, I'm just a monster."

My head hung. "And nothing more."

"But that's what the institute is for, right?" I heard her take another bite of fish. "To --"

"Get control of our powers, I know!" I snapped, perhaps a little too harshly. "I have control over my _powers_, Keety. Not over my _looks_."

"But . . ." I looked up at her, demanding without words that she come up with a good explanation of why I had to be like this, and everyone else didn't have to be.

"We care about you . . ." Her voice was barely a whisper.

"'We'?" My voice was rising, but I didn't care. "WE?! Come _on_, Keety, you know the truth. The professor cares, but not all that much. He has other things to vorry about. Logan doesn't care at all. The only reason why he's here is to figure out his past, and nothing more."

"But --"

"WHO Keety?!?! Who?! Scott? Jean? Spike? Rogue? And even my own _mother_ doesn't care!! WHO CARES ABOUT A FUZZY ELF?!!?"

Kitty looked back up at me, tears so thick in her eyes they were glossy. "Are you that blind, Kurt?"

My rage was gone, now replaced with so much guilt I could have cut it with a knife.

"Why would you care about me, Keety?"

"Who wouldn't?" Her tears had begun to fall, but she was smiling. She didn't need to say anything:

I could stare that smile for hours.

She lay down, facing away from the fire. I sat on the opposite side, doing the same. "Goodnight." She said softly.

"Goodnight, Katzchen." I looked over at my branch "backpack" that she had rolled onto. I was going to have to replace that.

I sighed, my sadness less than the last three days.

The three days that she hadn't woken up.

Now on to Logan and Beast . . .

"I am _so_ gonna kill that elf when I get my hands on him . . ." Logan sneered, clenching his hands into fists, shaking one up in the air. _Three days out in the wood, and _still_ hardly a sign of them_.

"That's if we can find him first. He's much harder to track than I thought." Beast sniffed the air. Still nothing.

He and Logan had set out the night after they found out that Kurt had gone, but it was incredibly hard to track him. Only a few two-toed footprints here and there, but it looked like he went to the trees later, and the rain had washed most of the scent away.

This was getting difficult.

Beast swung up to the treetops, and checked more of the branches. "I think that we should have left earlier, Logan. It's hopeless right now. Plus I can hardly see in this dark."

"Seein' as your appearance ain't exactly a noel prize winner, I think this was a better idea. 'Sides, we at least came prepared." He pointed to their backpacks. Smirking, he said, "If there's one thing that will bring Fuzzy back, it's food."

"What about Kitty?" Beast asked, swinging down and landing on the ground with a loud thump.

"I don't really see why she left in the first place, but she and Fuzzy always seem to find each other."

Beast nodded at Logan's comment. If Kitty had indeed come looking for Kurt, _she_ might be able to bring them back. The scientist highly doubted that mere food could bring Kurt back, since he hadn't even brought anything with them.

Why did he leave?

"Hey, fuzzball! You comin'? I think I got a whiff of 'im!"

Beast sighed. Tracking someone was one thing, Logan said he actually enjoyed it. But Beast guessed it was all a matter of who with. He sighed once more before running after the metal-boned man on all fours.

His thoughts could wait until tonight.

However, another set of yellow eyes were watching them.

End chapter.

All right, there's another one. Thanks again for the people who are reviewing, it's encouraging.

Next chappie in a week! (if people review, that is)


	4. Rage

Okay, another chappie.

For those of you who are reading my other story that I've been working on (legacy of heroes in TT) I've hit writer's block.

It's just a little hard to write scene transitions, and a doctor says that I might be developing tendonitis.

Doh!

For those of you who actually know Fuzzy's past when he was in Germany, I'm going to change it a little bit, just for fun (no really, it fits into the story pretty well)

Anyway, thanks for reading, and enjoy!!

--Dakyu

Ch. 4 

Ugh. Rock was NOT a comfortable furnishing.

Kitty groaned as she sat up, rubbing her head, but a sharp rip of pain forced her back down again.

She grumbled. Kitty was never one to accept that others had to do things for her.

Hearing a chuckled from her right, along with the smell of fried fish, brought her head to the side so that she could view the situation.

Kurt had rekindled the fire, and had constructed a cooking stick that could be rotated above the fire. How did he keep on amazing her with such little things?

He rotated another unfortunate fish that was on the stick, and was browning pleasantly. "Hungry?"

Realizing that she had just stared, she opened her mouth to answer. Her stomach had other ideas, though.

A high squeal came from her abdomen, and she shut her mouth. "I guess that answers it, huh?"

The elf just laughed a little more, and handed a roasted fish to her. She tried to sit up, and this time succeeded in doing so.

"You're doing better." He said flatly.

"I always was a quick healer." Kitty bit into her fish. Spiceless, but somehow better than the kind of fish that she used to eat.

Before she had gone vegetarian, that is.

She ate the fish down to the bone, and sat a straight as she could. Not perfect, but good enough so that she could see her surroundings.

A stream flowed not too far away, the gentle trickle of water calmed their nerves. Behind them was a small cliff, a drop of about fifteen feet or so that surrounded them. The cliff broke about a foot from the stream's edge, and the cliff continued on either side of them, following the river's banks.

All in all, it was a pretty cozy place.

Kurt ate his fish, and stuck the stick that it had been on in the flames. He could always scrape off another one.

He liked it like this. Kitty was with him, and no one else was. They could do whatever they wanted . . . ewe . . . _Okay, get away from those thoughts_, he mentally swatted them away. There were no other people here. He didn't have to hide, and she could . . .

Do nothing.

She was here with him, but that meant nothing. Kitty had a future. One that didn't have him in it.

He hung his head slightly, trying to mask his pain.

Kitty was deep in thought as well. Would Kurt ever come back to the institute? Why did he leave in the first place? He would probably answer that his appearance had something to do with it . . . but the others understood him.

Did he not see that? Or maybe it was something more . . .

She shook her head, clearing her unblurred vision. Wondering wasn't getting her anywhere. For lack of a better way . . .

"Why'd you leave?"

Kurt instantly froze, then looked at her, rage in his eyes. Not a burning rage at her, but definitely some anger.

"Why'd you leave?" She repeated.

"I didn't leave. I went back." Kurt stood, and began to walk towards the edge of the small cliffs.

"Went back to what?"

He turned around again, this time pain was mixed in with his anger. "My past."

Kurt leapt up the wall, and picked up a spear that she only now noticed was laying there. "I'll be back soon. This won't take long."

She huffed. He must have his reasons . . . but blast it! She hated riddles!

Kitty lay back down, and hoped desperately that there weren't any bears around.

Logan & Beast

Some of the local creatures _did_ have the tempers of bears.

Logan let out a snarl. This was just pissing him off.

They were just wandering around, and even the food hadn't attracted Kurt. It was all the wind's falt.

They had been tracking him from the west, and the wind was at their backs. That meant that _he_ would smell them first, and also the wind made it harder to track him in the way that if you caught his scent, it was like a flag in the wind.

The occasional tree had his scent, but wind blew it _away_ from them.

He snarled again.

"You know, you're more likely to scare him out of hiding rather than just _find_ him if you keep that up."

"Yeah, yeah." The smaller of the two waved him off with a hand. "I don't need your 'scientific analogies' right now. Especially since we're on a time crunch, and . . ." He froze.

Beast looked over at him. Logan was sniffing the air. "Do you smell that?"

"Hm. It smells familiar . . . I can't place it though."

Another growl rumbled in Logan's throught. "He had better not have--"

Logan dashed away in a mad sprint.

"Wha-- Hey! Slow down!" Beast was after him like a gigantic furry bullet.

Logan pushed his legs to pull his metal bulk along with him. True, it did make him nearly invincible, but when it came to speed . . .

_He_ had the advantage.

Trees whizzed past, but he kept going. The smell was stronger. He could almost . . .

Splash.

He stopped as abruptly as he had started, and looked down at his feet.

Blood. And entire puddle of it.

No.

Logan fell in the puddle, unaware of the crusting blood staining his uniform. "No."

Beast's heavy steps thundered up behind him. A horrified look came over his face. "Is that --"

Logan nodded solemnly. "Yup. This is bad."

"But is it . . ."

"Kitty? Oh, yeah. And from the looks of it she lost a _lot_ of blood, too. But . . ." His fists clenched. "His smell is all over."

"Who's?"

"Sabertooth."

End chappie

-----------------

Heeheee! yet _another_ cliffhanger. Sorry, this is just the way my stories are written. Thank you for all the loyal readers, but if there aren't any reviews, I won't continue!!

O.O R&R (me)

If you didn't get that, it means that if you read, and then review, I'll be happy, lol.

Dakyu


	5. Huh?

Another chapter. Sorry it isn't as long as the others, (I DO have schoolwork to do, after all,) but the story should begin to explain some things as it continues.

For now, I'm going to keep you in suspense.

You know the drill, R&R and then I'll continue

Ch. 5

Damn.

Sabertooth cupped his hands in a stream, rinsing off the layer of grim that had accumulated itself on them.

This was more difficult than he thought.

He sighed, raising his head to gaze upwards at the sky. Why did his life have to be so damn difficult?

Looking back, he now knew that getting involved with Magneto was just plain stupid. That crazed lunatic was out to destroy the world. At first he seemed like he had an admirable cause . . .

Until he used mind control on him.

The cat mutant shook his head to get rid of his dizziness. A bounty on the x-men's heads were pretty good right now though . . .

Enough to drive some insane.

Sabertooth smirked. Magneto obviously hadn't been happy, with what he had already done to "replace" sabertooth's original place with them.

Was it a "team"? He couldn't be sure, but he had always been able to keep logan busy.

Not like Magneto couldn't have taken care of him all of those times he had fought him . . .

"Ugh." He shook his head again to get rid of his persistent headache. He hated his life . . . at least at the moment.

He dipped his hand in the water again, bringing a small handful to his lips. It felt refreshing, especially with all the traveling he had been doing.

Sabertooth drank his fill, then sniffed the air. "Yep. He's been here." With that, the mutant took off. He had a furball to catch.

Kurt and Kitty

Kurt returned, just like he had said. The "spear" that he had originally been carrying now had narrow strips of bark and reeds draped entwined with one another, making a net. This new net was strung across his shoulder like a hitch hiker carries his pack.

A strange hitch hiker he would have been . . .

Kitty sat up again, feeling a little less pain than yesterday, and smiled inwardly at the thought. She was getting better. "What's that for?"

"You'll see." He flashed a grin with his canines showing through, and set the net next to the shallow stream. Making a fist with his three-fingered hand, he smacked the face of the cliff with a grunt. A few large rocks, clouds of dust accompanying them, loosened themselves from their previous home, and had a wild ride falling into the water, landing with a loud splash.

A quizzical expression took Kitty's face as she watched him work. He repeated the procedure several times over, so that the stream shallowed and several rocks poked their tips above the surface of the running water. Kurt smiled for a moment at his work, and set about distributing the rocks over the stream's already rocky bottom. Now, none of the rocks were visible unless you were deliberately looking for them.

Kitty's face stayed, and got even more confused if possible. Kurt now grabbed the net, and lay it across the stream's bottom, laying over the rocks. "What was that whole thing for?"

"Easier way to catch fish." He said simply, and smiled cheekily back at her.

"Huh? How's dropping rocks on their heads gonna make them easier to catch?" An eyebrow raised in question, her hands propping herself up from the ground, and her eyes questioning the blue fuzzball even more than her face was.

She couldn't have been cuter in Kurt's eyes.

"Just vait a vhile, Keety." Kurt said, and began walking over towards the cliff. "I'm going for some berries."

At that, her eyes instantly lit up. Recently, her lack of sticking to her vegetarian diet was really bugging her and giving her some guilt. This would definitely whet her appetite. "Like, definitely!"

Kurt resisted his urge to roll his eyes, and walked back over to her. "Can you valk?"

She pushed herself so that she was sitting on her heels, and slowly rose from the ground. Her joints creaked in protest, but they eventually gave way, and she stood up shakily. Smiling, she slowly walked over to Kurt, who offered her a furry hand.

His smile, combined with his shirtlessness and the contact she was being offered made her blush, but she took his hand nonetheless.

Both of their smiles grew wider, and they disappeared in a puff of sulfur and a light flash of light.

Light of what was growing, and what was meant to be.

At the institute

"What happened?" Many of the kids at the institute were plaguing Ororo, the professor, and Jean for questions. Both of the adults refused to say a word. It wasn't their business too.

Jean, however, wasn't so lucky.

"So what happened, anyway?" Evan asked, trying to get some answers out of the telepath. "You _can_ read minds . . ."

"I may be telepathic," Jean huffed, "but so is the professor. He's put up some psychic barriers, and I can't break through."

Scott raised an eyebrow. Despite his lack of being able to read minds, his connection with Jean allowed him to be able to determine her feelings . . .

And often times whether or not she was lying. But, it's not like he could have come up with something better, anyway.

He said nothing, but continued to read the uninteresting newspaper that had a fantastically unfascinating article on the future of a model's hair.

Evan, Rogue, and the other minor students at the institute continued to plague her with questions, while the Professor and Ororo enjoyed a hot cup of coffee.

There would be some explaining to do if Logan and Beast were unsuccessful.

Logan and Beast

"DARN IT!!" Logan shouted to no one in particular.

Hank just rolled his eyes. His love of the hunt was starting to wane . . .

"How hard can it be to track that stupid . . ." Logan's voice trailed off into indecipherable words that even Beast's keen ears couldn't pick up. Logan continued searching down the slope that they were on, sniffing the air left and right.

"Humph." He kept muttering to himself.

Hank moved over to where Logan was standing, sniffing the air as well. "Hm. That's strange."

The metal boned man turned towards his furry counterpart, a snarl threatening to curl the ends of his lips. "What is?"

"Look here." Beast turned towards the ground on their right, where a large footprint had sunken into the mud while it had still been wet.

"Yeah. That's one of old kit-kat's footprints. What about it?"

"Well, Sabertooth is about as heavy as you are, correct?"

"Yeah, what're you gettin' at?"

"Look at how deep it goes into the mud." Beast put his foot next to the footprint, his weight causing him to sink in a few millimeters. Weighing three hundred pounds of muscle, Beast was far heavier than Sabertooth.

However, this footprint went at least an inch and a half into the ground.

Logan needed no explanation. "So you're sayin' . . ."

"Precisely. We need to find out what did this, and quickly. Kitty and Kurt might be in more trouble than they realize."

End Chapter

Yes, don't kill me for this last cliffhanger. I KNOW I said that this would explain some more, but now I have four viewpoints to cover, so bear with me, okay?

Schoolwork has severely depleted my free time, so I can't really say when I'm going to be able to.

Of course, without reviews, I won't continue at all, so please R&R!!


	6. Coming Storm

Rises up out of coffin I liiiiiiiiiiiiiive!!

Yes, and for the record, I was stupid enough to forget ALL the disclaimers, so here it is: I never have, and never will own the X-men, whether comics, TV shows, or movies. SO DON'T SUE ME! At least for those things . . . if it's for something like just plain stupidity, feel free.

Ahem. Once again, thank you for all of the reviews. They keep me going!

Ch. 6

Rogue fluffed her hair, the white tips of her bangs falling in front of her face. The room, at least for now, was all hers.

The small bathroom that she had once had to share with Kitty now seemed gigantic, now that they weren't fighting for a space in the shower in the mornings.

Two weeks. Two full weeks.

Rogue desperately hoped that her half brother could keep both himself and Kitty alive. "He certainly can . . ."

She turned around in the mirror, satisfied with her look, which was nothing more than a long sleeved shirt, light cotton pants, and her customary gloves. Slipping them on with practiced ease, she turned towards the door.

"You'd both better look out for each otha, fuzzy. Othawise Ah'm gonna halfta go out there and bring ya back mahself." She grinned. They would have probably preferred that over Logan's method . . .

Slash first, forgive later.

Logan and Beast

Beast leapt up to the higher branches of a tree, trying to get a whiff of any of their quarries.

"Jeez. How can two fuzzballs, a little girl, and some kind of . . . I dunno, just a guy who smells like Sabertooth lose us so easily?" He sniffed the air, and slashed the side of a tree in frustration.

"Well, Kurt can --"

"It's what's called a 'rhetorical statement' fuzzball. Meaning, possibly, that I don't really _want_ a response, Hm?"

Beast smiled to himself. Even if Logan wasn't the most educated, or in any case, the most commendable of audiences, he definitely had his entertainment value.

Wolverine ignored his smile, knowing he was probably thinking of some insult of him, and turned towards the south. "There _is_ one thing that I really don't get."

"How could something that would weight something between two and three tons be able to make his footprints disappear?"

"What makes you so sure it's a boy?"

"I thought Saber was a guy, unless there was something that he . . . 'it,' was hiding from me."

"Okay, let's run through the possibilities here," Beast held up one hand and began counting on his fingers. "One, this . . . thing, is an illusion that Mystique put up --"

"Doubt it. Mystique can't change her weight, and she can't change her smell anyways."

"It could be a trap."

"But how would that work?"

"Magneto could have easily made a machine that was the right weight, and Sabertooth could have walked first through here to have his scent in here."

"Could be, but why would they do that? Lead us on some wild goose chase? I doubt even Magneto is _that_ demented."

"Would you stop interrupting me?" Beast said, an expression of indignance clearly imprinted on his face.

Logan folded his arms.

"Thank you. Now, that option seems possible, but there is one last possibility for these footprints and Sabertooth's smell all over."

"And that would be . . ." He used a hand to motion for the blue furball to continue.

"A clone."

"That still doesn't explain why the footprints are so deep."

Beast rolled his eyes. Such a simpleton . . . "Well, if they had such technology at their disposal, it makes sense that they would want to improve what kinds of powers Sabertooth already had."

"So you mean like a super-saber?"

"In a way, yes."

"Great. Now we got a blue elf, a phaser, and now a big ugly cat freak to find."

Logan spat on the ground. "Just our luck."

_Thud . . ._

"What was that?" Beast's eyes flew from side to side nervously.

"What?"

_Thud . . ._

"That."

Logan sighed. "Ah, great. That isn't what I think it is, is it?"

A blood chilling roar soon answered his question.

Kurt and Kitty

Mist from the morning dew slowly rose from the forest floor, the inner sanctum and refuge of its walls every the word peace could describe. Shallow brooks and streams gurgled lazily, birds sang their hearts out to the new day.

"Bwaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrp!!"

All the birds flew away.

"Keety! Vhoa! Veesh! Aim that breath somevhere else." Kurt waved a three fingered hand in front of his face. "Blecch! I know what to use as a crowd control veapon . . ." He pretended to gag a bit more, but a grin toyed with the ends of his mouth.

She grinned back "Sorry." Kitty lay back on the soft earth. Above her, the sun peaked through the leaves, glittering off the wet moss on all sides. She smiled as the sunlight hit her.

Peace. She was finally at peace.

Of all the things Kitty had tried to do to calm herself, nothing had ever come close: massage, TV, or even her life's joy: books. She was completely at peace, with nothing . . .

Except the sun, the trees, and a fuzzy elf.

A cool breeze ruffled over them, stirring the grass around them. Kitty let out a satisfied sigh, letting the peace of the scenery consume her.

Kurt looked up. He had been searching for so long for his life's purpose, yet he now found he didn't have to. This girl was all that he needed.

Did he just think that? The realization hit him like a freight train. Was he . . . in what he thought he was?

He turned towards Kitty. She turned to face him, smiling with her eyes. His eyes trailed all over her face: there were dirt marks, imperfections, and she wasn't the most attractive girl in the world . . .

But to him, she was perfect.

Her eyes began to question him, but when they touched lips, they rolled back in her head from all the sudden emotions they were feeling.

They finally had peace.

A blood-freezing roar in the distance, however, interrupted their moment.

"Figures . . ." Kurt muttered.

_Thud . . ._

Kitty's eyes flew open, as wide as they would go.

_Thud . . _.

A tree crashed to the forest floor, a huge foot shattered the ground, the creature's roar echoing through the forest.

Dun dun dun! Orchestra complains

Okay, I use cliffhangers too much for my stories. Sor_ry_. Well, there's the next chappie up! You know the drill: no reviews, no continuing.

Dakyu


	7. Finale

Whoa, when was the last time I updated this fic? Like three months ago? Man, I'm really sorry for all of you who really like this story. As I've said though, high school is really tough, and you have like no time for all of the fun stuff.

I can't really have a good updating schedule, but here's what I've got.

Ch. 7

"Look out!" Kurt grabbed Kitty and teleported, just as a gigantic fist smashed through a tree and denting the ground. They reappeared a short distance away, a small puff of smoke dancing away in the wind.

Kitty almost gagged at the site before them. The _original_ Sabertooth had been ugly. And this . . . thing, that so resembled him, was downright unappealing.

Nearly three times the size of a man, the five-foot shoulders offset by an extremely tiny head, only slightly larger than that of a normal person's. Dirty blond fur with black stripes covered the entire body from head to toe. The only place when it couldn't be seen . . . was under its Speedo.

Kurt gagged. "Man. I thought LOGAN looked bad in those . . ."

Kitty quirked an eyebrow. "You actually HAVE seen him in one?"

A shrug.

The menacing thing turned, snarling with oversized fangs, several large drips of saliva dripping and flying in the wind that followed.

Kurt winced, waving a hand in front of his face. "Veesh! And I thought I had smelled the worst morning breath . . ."

"And what's THAT supposed to mean?" Kitty stood there indignantly, hands on her hips.

He didn't get a chance to answer, as one of the oversized fists almost as wide as Kurt's body dented the ground where he had just been standing.

The nightcrawler climbed the tree nimbly; evading the monster's slashes that were getting uncomfortably close.

The blood red eyes of the super-saber turned on Kitty, and another snarl escaped its lips. "Doesn't this guy, like, have anything GOOD to say! AH!" She jumped to the side as the overgrown behemoth's foot stomped the ground, cracking the ground with an ear-splitting crash.

Kurt teleported, grabbing Kitty by the wrist, and 'porting again before the six inch claws of the overgrown fuzzball could make mince meat out of them.

"Yipe!" Bamf! Smash!

"Ah!" Phase Crash!

Kurt and Kitty leapt from side to side, trying to avoid this huge idiot's blows. It was soon apparent that this…thing…didn't have much in the way of brains. It just kept going with the same old routine: roar, crash, roar, smash.

And, in response to that, Kurt and Kitty had no choice but to comply with a "bamf" or a phase. After all, there was very little that they could do.

Even if this thing was stupid, it was strong, and it had speed. Kurt and Kitty were far from tiring, but every time Kitty tried doing something . . . anything, it was already upon either her or Kurt.

Kurt bamfed behind the monster's head, giving an incredibly hard kick right to the monster's head.

"OW!" Kurt dropped to the ground, hopping on one foot and holding the other with his hands. The behemoth seemed to laugh, only to send a clawed hand slicing through the air.

When the dust cleared, it was apparent the attack had left the rivets in the ground where the blue fuzzball had been standing.

Kurt let out a small breath. This was TOUGH. An hour of fighting already, and this thing didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat. Kitty phased into the ground to avoid a horizontal attack, while simultaneously Kurt had to bamf again just to stay alive.

"Isn't there any way to beat this thing?" Kitty wondered. The eyes once again focusing on her. Sighing in exhaustion, she prepared to phase again, even if this was going to be the last time.

Kurt was showing signs of exhaustion also. Each jump was less of an acrobatic feat, just a slight hop to avoid getting squished. His breathing came in rasps, sweat causing his fur to cling to his body.

A cut had appeared over Kitty's left eye, another on Kurt's right wrist. More were appearing by the minute, and while right now nothing more than an inconvenience, they would eventually get infected.

Kurt let out another growl in frustration. Neither was going to last much longer, and this thing looked like it could go on forever. What the heck was this thing's weakness?

Kurt tripped and fell to the ground roughly. Spitting out a wad of forest-dirt, the only thing he could see was a gigantic tan fist barreling down on him. For a split second, he could see everything in slow motion.

The fur on the monster's hand.

The tears gathering in Kitty's eyes.

Her quivering lips, the pupils in her eyes widening in fear.

He smiled. He now knew what he had been sent on this world to do:

To love.

His eyes closed. He accepted his fate.

"Kurt!" Wait! He knew that voice . . .

A blue streak shot through the air, wind whistling about the huge form. There was a loud crack of bone on bone, and the gigantic hulk fell over, crashing into the ground with a titanic collision between dirt, rock, and flesh.

Hank cracked his knuckles. "Jeez . . ."

Seconds later Logan appeared, adamantium claws unsheathed. "Get back here you coward!" He exploded forward, light glinting off of his metal "fingers."

"Logan! Don't—"

Whack! Smash!

"Never mind . . ." Beast shook his head as Logan launched himself into the air, only to be sent cascading downwards into a dent in the earth.

The behemoth laughed, then abruptly sent another punch at them.

Beast cried in pain as he was sent reeling backwards, splintering a tree in half.

Kurt's yellow eyes widened, and he jumped into the nearby trees to dodge an incoming foot. Why had they come? Wasn't he just a monster to them?

Kitty dodged yet again, and for a brief moment their eyes connected.

Pain, fear, hope.

"Nice to see you again too, half pint," Logan said, slashing diagonally at the fist that came at him.

"Oh . . . heheh, hi Logan . . ." Kitty said quietly. Why had they done, followed her?

"What? I don't get a hello?" Kurt pouted, hanging from a tree by his tail.

"I don't really think this is the best time for—"

A roar echoed through the clearing for shattered trees, and another streak of tan torpedoed through the air, colliding with the behemoth with the impact of what looked like a freight train.

Logan rolled his eyes. "I'm just SURROUNDED by fuzzy guys, aren't I?"

"S . . . Sabertooth?" Kitty was bewildered. Why would anyone, much less HIM, help them?

The cat mutant smirked. "That's a hello. Truth is, this overly muscle-bound freak is a weak excuse of a being." His eyes opened, glowing slightly in a golden hue. "This time, Magneto has gone to far . . ."

Kurt snorted. "Oh, come on! That was SO from a movie!"

His comment was ignored, as four beastly mutants exploded towards their ugly target. To say it simply, violence ensued.

Logan's blades flashed, Beast's punches and kicks cracked bones, and Sabertooth .. . well, he did both.

Kurt and Kitty watched for a moment, watching. "I never thought . . ." the nightcrawler started.

"That you had friends that would die for you?" He turned, startled. "You still don't understand, but you will."

With renewed energy that she had never known before, she bolted forward, fists clenched, a scream escaping her throat with such volume that no one didn't hear her song.

A song of hope echoed through the forest.

Kurt stood up silently, seeing his beloved and some of those important to him fight. They were fighting for him. For HIM, the freak, the blue fuzz ball, the . . .

Monster.

Kitty ran full force forward into the melee, the huge cloned behemoth almost taken off his feet in surprise as she leapt forward with a speed and force to be reckoned with.

Suddenly, Kitty phased, leaping right at the creatures stomach. It almost yelped in surprise, and Kitty disappeared into its body.

Wolverine's eyebrow cocked. "What the heck is she—"

Suddenly, the beast coughed, a trickle of blood running down its lips. Sabertooth smiled. "Never would have thought of that, myself. Nice."

The giant's eyes rolled back into his head, and he toppled backwards, hitting the ground with the impact of a train wreck.

Kurt scrambled over to the carcass. "Keety! Keety! Vhere are you!" His pupil-less eyes scanned frantically over the fallen beast. Where? A hand rose through the bristly fur, covered in blood and grime.

Kitty coughed, spitting out something red. "I really, like, do NOT recommend that."

Beast picked himself up from his spot in the dirt. "Well that was an enthralling experience . . ."

Logan's eyes scanned the area. "Hey, where'd fuzzy go?"

"Which one?"

Both Beast and Nightcrawler sweatdropped at Kitty's statement, though said nothing.

"Old Sabertooth. I would have thought that he'd have at least tried to fight me or something . . ."

Kitty shrugged. "Who knows with that guy? He's probably just a little confused as to who to believe." Her eyes then turned to Kurt's. "Just like the rest of us."

Beast grinned at the nightcrawler's purple blush, then hit a button on his watch that had mysteriously appeared. "Charles, can you hear me?"

"Yes, quite clear. Have you found him?"

"Yes, yes. Can you send the X-Jet –"

The loud scream of jet engines answered his question. "Well . . . THAT was fast . . ."

Logan snorted.

Jean came down the stairs of the jet, smiling at everyone, but it immediately turned into a scowl of concern as she saw all of the cuts and bruises on everyone. Cyclops came down as well, letting out a low whistle of appreciation once he saw the dead behemoth.

"Wow. What happened here?"

"A German bonanza, what else?" Kurt said, dusting himself off.

Kitty smirked, and began stepping up the stairs, Jean forcing down her gag at the sudden onslaught of smell.

Beast stepped up the stairs as well, muttering something about the transmitional frequencies of radio watches . . . or something of that sort . . . Kurt lost it after the second sentence.

Logan took a deep breath of the fresh air as a breeze traveled through the clearing. He saw Kurt doing the same out of the corner of his eye, but there was also something else that caught his attention.

A smile.

It was so simple a thing, yet so complex at the same time. Kurt's eyes opened, and there was a glimmer of something . . . some emotion, that Logan couldn't quite put his finger on.

With a mad grin on his face, Kurt teleported inside the X-Jet with a loud "bamf," only for there to be a loud conversation as follows:

"KURT!"

"Voops, sorry."

"ARGH!"

Crash.

Logan sighed. Yep, fuzzy was DEFINITLY back.

END

Wow . . . that didn't end the way that I expected it to. And sorry to everyone who had to wait so darned LONG for this story to be updated, school's a bitch, you know?

Anyway, suggestions on this fic or others would be greatly appreciated!

Here are some possible votes for upcoming stories of mine:

1. I have two preexisting stories right now that have gotten pretty much NO reviews, "Clash of times" and "Dimension rift and other things". If you read the descriptions, it pretty much says it all.

2. Inuyasha story: Karan (one of the panther demon siblings in the anime series, specifically the one who can control fire) is assaulted by demon slayers and left for dead, but she is saved by a human monk. A love story, for once, when the demon is the female and the human is the male.

3. Another IY story idea: when Kagome is fed up with Kouga's constant flirting, she makes a deal with Ayame, resulting in another set of rosary beads. Oh, the woes of slapstick humor . . .

Anyway, your opinion counts, so PLEASE R&R!

And once again, sorry so much for taking . . . four _months_ to update this story.

Dakyu


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